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My first crush was my parents' vintage 1970 Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, the sleekest, most beautiful station wagon ever built. I remember slipping out of the house with my stuffed bear and sleeping bag to curl up and watch the stars through its windows along the roofline, and dream of traveling the world.

When I was old enough to own a car, the marques -- like the boyfriends -- got more exotic. But, in the wasteland of car design that we call the '80s and '90s, I got emotionally involved with the classics: a 1977 Mercedes 450 SEL with a 6.9-liter engine, a 1971 Alpine A110, and a crazy fling with a 1957 Citroën Traction.

My current flame is a 1963 Bentley S3, fondly called Madeleine. Toni, the manager of my New York garage, used to say, "Doll! Why don't you get yourself a nice reliable Toyota? That car of yours is more trouble than she's worth!" He had a point. There was the rebuilt engine, the two brake jobs, the chrome restoration, the transmission nightmare, the modifications (seat belts, sound system, alternator, and unleaded-gas conversion) -- and all those mechanics at $195 an hour. But listening to the car's quiet rumble as she idled, catching the fragrance of her old leather seats, I'd say, "Toni! Just look at her!"

"To build a fast car, a good car, the best in its class," was founder Walter Owen Bentley's motto. Wondering whether the new cars lived up to W.O.'s original promise, I recently found myself driven in a 2012 Bentley Mulsanne, on my way to Monticello, Pa., to test-drive Bentley's new Continental GT V8 and the GTC V8 convertible.

The new Bentley Continental GT V8 has all the luxuries but only gets 18 miles per gallon.
Bentley

Bentley Motors came into being at the close of World War I, when flyboys turned to fast cars. Bentleys quickly developed a reputation for durability and speed -- winning the 24 Hours Le Mans five times in the company's first 11 years, before the 1929 stock-market crash forced the firm into receivership and a consequent sale to Rolls-Royce. Rolls marketed Bentley as its slightly less costly and sportier alternative, but in many ways Bentleys became nearly identical to the Rolls-Royce models.

When the engineering giant Vickers purchased Rolls-Royce Motors in 1980, it revitalized Bentley by reintroducing the classy Continental and developing the Turbo series. But it wasn't until 1998, when Volkswagen purchased the marque that Bentley was finally split from Rolls-Royce (which in turn became a subsidiary of BMW). Under the Volkswagen Group and its rumored $2 billion investment in the brand, Bentley is a company at the top of the luxury-auto market with two successful model lines: the large, powerful Mulsanne and the sporty Continental GTs, including the 12-cylinder W12 and the new V8s. A high-powered SUV is rumored to be in development for 2015.

Today it takes as many as nine weeks and 500-plus hours for a seasoned team of artisans and technicians at the factory in Crewe, England, to create one Bentley. The firm's handcrafted components and bespoke details, such as rare root-burl veneer inlay and invisible body joints, are key to what the design team calls "automotive sculpture." They are also fundamental to Bentley's claim that its automobiles are built to last "a century or more" and go far in justifying current prices of $174,000, the base price for the Continental GT V8, to $350,000 for the Mulsanne with standard options.

From a purely visual and tactile point of view, I noticed certain similarities between my S3 and its modern siblings: the curved lines of the front grille, the depth in the exterior paint, the rich interior woodwork, the creamy leather hides, and the spare valet key. Among the new gadgets of the past 50 years: seat belts, ergonomic seating with neck warmers and massage options, touch-screen satellite navigation, and multichannel/multispeaker surround-sound systems.

But how did the modern GT V8 drive? At the Monticello Motor Club track, my instructor, strapped into the passenger seat, calmly said, "Okay, at the next turn I want you to induce oversteer."

"Come again?" I whimpered.

With visions of spinning backward, out of control, in a six-figure automobile that didn't belong to me, I obediently swung a bit too fast into a tight right turn. I instantly felt the car's electronic stability system correct my mistake, rebalancing the car's weight and keeping the back wheels from coming unglued from the track.

While the Continental's interior has the luxurious appointments of a grand tourer, it handles like a nimble sports car. The GT V8's agility is the byproduct of a lighter engine, leading to front-axle load reduction and improved weight distribution (front to rear, 51:49%), and the permanent all-wheel drive. The electronic stability system I experienced and automatic braking system are combined with weight-saving yet long-lasting carbon brakes, an option on both V8 models.

My rear-wheel-drive S3, with its primitive power steering and complicated pre-ABS hydraulic servo-brake system, would have landed in a ditch had I tried that same oversteer maneuver, which had me fantasizing about getting Madeleine retrofitted. But the biggest news about the GT V8 models is the 4.0-liter turbocharged engine.

The target of this V8 series is better fuel economy and lower CO2 emissions than its 6.0 liter, 12-cylinder sibling. (Bentley claims 40% less fuel consumption than the 2008 GTs). Obviously, the loss of two liters and four cylinders results in less power from 0 to 60 miles per hour: 4.6 seconds for the V8 versus 4.2 for the W12. It also means a drop in top speed: 188 miles per hour compared with the previous 195 mph. But, seriously, unless you regularly commute through the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, the difference in speed is inconsequential when stacked against the environmental benefits and cost savings. The V8 is 10% cheaper than the W12.

During another test drive, Brian Gush, head of Bentley's chassis, powertrain, and motorsports engineering, explained how the reduction in fuel consumption and emissions was achieved: a lighter car, a smoother eight-speed automatic transmission, and a system that at low speeds makes the car efficiently run on just four of its eight cylinders. I couldn't tell when the eight cylinders dropped to four because Gush's team has tuned the exhaust system to consistently deliver that sexy V8 growl and burble.

FOR ALL THE TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS of the past 50 years, Bentley, I was surprised to learn, is still in the slow lane down the fuel-efficiency track. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the 2013 Bentley Continental GT V8 gets an average of 18 miles per gallon, nothing to set anyone's pulse racing. The 2013 W12 delivers 14 mpg, while the 2012 Mulsanne can only manage 13 mpg. That's exactly the same fuel efficiency as the V8 1963 predecessor that I drive, which, incidentally, I was able to improve to 16 mpg through additional modifications.

In all fairness to Bentley, a comparison with other luxury late models known for speed and sophisticated styling results in similar poor marks for average mpg consumption. They range from 14 mpg for the 2013 Maserati Quattroporte and Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe, to 19 mpg for the 2013 Porsche 911 Turbo and the 2013 Jaguar XK.

Still, that doesn't let Bentley off the hook. Companies that talk about being best-in-class need to anticipate the needs and wishes of their target audience. And when a company claims to build automobiles that last for "a century or more," there is an even greater responsibility to tackle future challenges.

Uncle Sam is certainly nudging Bentley and the other luxury-car companies to do better. Automobile fleets with average mpg that fall below the prescribed level of 27.3 are all being fined by the U.S. government. These fines are currently viewed by the luxury-car industry as a cost of doing business. But the fines are scheduled to get considerably steeper for 2017 models, when phased-in regulations pushing fleet averages up to 56.2 mpg by 2025 are expected to kick into gear.

The U.S. is Bentley's largest single market. It remains to be seen whether the 40% improvement in fuel efficiency from its previous models, and the modest 10% price differential of the Continental GT and GTC V8s, will have any impact in bringing new customers to the Bentley brand. My hope is that Bentley will continue to use its considerable resources to pioneer a quantum leap in its fuel economy and environmental innovations.